Android-25 News

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 – Supplemental testosterone and related anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) can cause heart attacks, personality changes and infertility, and are easily abused, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns. The agency said Monday that labeling on all prescription testosterone products – which are approved to treat men with low testosterone due to certain medical conditions – will be revised. Millions of American men currently use testosterone pills, gels or get injections in hopes of boosting their physical health or libido. Anabolic steroids are synthetic variations of testosterone and are legally prescribed to treat conditions such as delayed puberty and diseases that cause muscle loss, such as cancer or AIDS. But "testosterone and other AAS are abused by adults and adolescents, including athletes and body builders," according to an FDA news release. "Abuse ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14, 2016 – Weightlifters' abuse of anabolic steroids – synthetic drugs that closely mimic male sex hormones, such as testosterone – may also lead to insulin resistance, a new study suggests. Insulin resistance is a condition where the muscles, liver and fat cells don't use insulin properly, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). It can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, NIDDK says. A team of researchers led by Dr. Jon Rasmussen from Herlev University Hospital in Copenhagen investigated the effects of anabolic steroids on the belly fat and insulin sensitivity of 100 men who were 50 years old or younger. All of the men were involved in strength training. The researchers divided the men into three groups based on their use of anabolic steroids: 37 men were currently using the drugs, 33 had done so in the ... Read more

MONDAY, Feb. 29, 2016 – Young male athletes under parental pressure to succeed are more likely to use banned substances to boost their sports performance, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Kent in England asked 129 young male athletes, average age 17, about their attitudes on "doping" – the use of prohibited drugs, such as steroids, hormones or stimulants, to boost athletic ability. These substances, sometimes called performance-enhancing drugs, can potentially alter the human body and biological functions. However, they can be extremely harmful to a person's health, experts warn. In addition, the study participants were also asked about four different aspects of perfectionism. The four areas were: parental pressure; self-striving for perfection; concerns about making mistakes; and pressure from coaches. Only parental pressure was linked to positive feelings about ... Read more

SATURDAY, Feb. 13, 2016 – The more obsessed that college athletes are with their sport, the more likely they are to approve of using performance-enhancing drugs, a new Canadian study finds. Two types of passion are associated with sports, the University of Waterloo researchers explained. "Harmonious passion" involves feelings of enjoyment, and the sport blends with the athlete's life. "Obsessive passion" means not being able to disconnect from a sport and having feelings of guilt when not participating. The researchers surveyed nearly 600 male and female varsity/all-star athletes at four universities in the province of Ontario. "We found that regardless of gender, athletes who reported higher obsessive passion indicated more lenient attitudes towards [performance-enhancing drugs], while athletes who reported higher harmonious passion held more conservative attitudes towards them," ... Read more

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 – Millions of aging Americans are plagued by arthritic knees, and two new studies offer insight into what might – or might not – help curb the condition. Both studies were presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting in San Francisco. One study found that a popular therapy, steroid drug injections, do nothing to slow progression of osteoarthritis in the knee. This type of treatment is common, but has never been specifically tested, and there are concerns about its safety, according to a team led by Dr. Tim McAlindon, chief of rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. His team tracked outcomes for 140 people – mainly overweight white women – with knee arthritis who averaged 58 years of age. The patients received either injections of the steroid triamcinolone hexacetonide, or placebo injections of saline, every three months ... Read more

TUESDAY, Sept. 22, 2015 – Men with prostate cancer who also have had a heart attack may fare better with radiation therapy alone rather than with the standard treatment of radiation plus hormone therapy, a new analysis suggests. Over an average of 17 years of follow-up, men with high-risk prostate cancer who also had a heart condition lived longer after radiation treatment alone than similar men who had radiation and hormone therapy. Men who didn't have heart problems lived longer if they had both treatments, the researchers added. "There have been several trials looking at radiation with or without hormone therapy in high-risk prostate cancer which found a survival benefit from combined treatment," said lead researcher Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. However, whether hormone therapy causes an increase in death from heart ... Read more

THURSDAY, Oct. 11 – In the wake of new allegations around Lance Armstrong's involvement in blood doping, experts are reminding the public of the devastating impact these substances can have on an athlete's health. The recent report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency accusing seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong (he was recently stripped of those titles) of doping participation shows how deeply the practice is ingrained in cycling, but it's a big problem in others sports as well. So-called performance-enhancing drugs – such as erythropoietin, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone – may affect almost every system in the body, and have been linked to severe medical and psychiatric side effects. Add in diuretics to mask all the drugs, and athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs are risking their long-term health, experts say. One of the most common drugs is ... Read more